25. Chapter 25
Chapter twenty-five
“The truth hurts, babe.”
As hard as it was on both of them, Maggie went home at the end of their date rather than waking up the next morning at Abe’s house. While Abe lay in bed trying to fall asleep, he was already planning the next date.
On Saturday morning, he took Kai to his mother early and drove to Maggie’s house.
She opened the door and took a step back. “Abe? What are you doing here?”
“What kind of a greeting is that?”
She smiled. “A shocked one.” She opened the door wider. “Come on in.”
He stepped through the door, the bouquet of flowers he’d brought behind his back. “I didn’t want to wait until Monday for our second date, and the restaurant is going to be crazy busy this weekend, so I thought we could start it off with breakfast together.”
“Am I cooking this breakfast?”
“No. I thought we’d go into town.”
She raised her eyebrows. “A real official date in front of people and stuff?”
“Yeah. It’s about time, right?”
She cocked her head. “What are you hiding behind your back?”
“Hmm.” He pulled out the flowers. “How the hell did those get there?”
“You brought me flowers?” She took them from him. “I didn’t think you were the flower bringing kind of guy.”
“I’m not. This is a first. I did buy flowers for my mom once when I was like ten, but—”
Maggie threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. “Once again, you’re talking when you should be kissing.”
He pulled her tight and kissed her. “I should’ve brought you flowers a long time ago.”
She stepped back and looked at them. “They are beautiful. Come help me put them in some water.”
“You need help with that?”
She took his hand and headed for the kitchen. Donovan came running down the hallway barking, and Abe laughed. “That dog has a serious delayed reaction problem.”
“I think he’s hard of hearing.”
“Or just not very smart.”
Maggie nudged him. “Don’t say that about my baby.”
“The truth hurts, babe.”
Maggie took a vase from a cupboard and handed it to him. “Fill this, please.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He filled the vase with water, then set it on the counter as Maggie removed the decorative wrapping from the flowers. She set the flowers in the vase and fussed with them for a moment.
“Thank you.” He came up behind her and put his arms around her. She turned to him with tears in her eyes. “Am I really the first woman you’ve bought flowers for?”
He kissed her. “Yes. You’re also the first woman who I think that no matter what I’m doing, it would be better if you were there.”
She touched his cheek. “My sweet Abe.”
He pulled her close again and whispered in her ear. “Just how hungry are you?”
She kissed his neck. “Suddenly, food is the last thing on my mind.”
“Are we about to ditch the let’s take it slow plan?”
“I believe we are.”
Being together with Maggie again was wonderful, and Abe wished he hadn’t wasted so much time avoiding his feelings. He rubbed Maggie’s arm, which was lying across his chest. “We are terrible at following a plan.”
She laughed. “New plan. No more plans.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“We should get up so we don’t fall asleep and get to work late.”
“We’ll wake up in time.”
She turned his wrist over and looked at his watch. “Does this thing have an alarm?”
“It should. It can alert me if I’m having a heart attack. It should be able to wake me up.”
“How do you set it?”
“I have no idea. I hate alarm clocks.”
“Gentry will kill us if we’re late.”
“We won’t be late.”
“Abe!”
“Hmm? What?”
“It’s 10:30.”
“Shit. We’re going to be late.” They both sat up, then Maggie turned to him and pushed him back down. “Are we going to be really late?”
“No.” She kissed him. “I just wanted to thank you for breakfast.”
“You’re welcome.”
She sat up again. “Now get your butt out of bed.”
Abe got out of bed. “I’m going to take a super quick shower.”
“We don’t have time.”
“Five minutes.”
“I’ll make some coffee for the road.”
He laughed. “Our ten-minute road trip to work?”
“Go shower.”
When he came into the kitchen, Maggie was filling two travel mugs. “Should we call Gentry and let him know we’re on the way?”
“We’re not late yet.”
“It’s 11:00.”
“Oh, no. I don’t want to dilute his wrath. He’ll feel much better if he can lay it all on me full force.”
“Are you ready to go?”
He patted his pockets. “Yep. I have everything I need.”
She kissed him, then handed him a mug. “Let’s go to work.”
They headed for the door. “Why does this feel so…normal?”
“Leaving for work together?”
“Yeah.”
She took his hand. “Don’t let it freak you out.”
“It doesn’t.”
They went outside, then stopped next to the two cars. “I guess we need to take both cars.”
Abe nodded. “Yeah.” He kissed her. “I’ll race you there.”
“No, you won’t. You’ll drive sensibly like a responsible father and boyfriend.”
“Have I become boring?”
“No.” She kissed him, giving his bottom lip a light bite. “You, my love, will never be boring.”
He opened the door of her car. “Wait for me in the parking lot. Gentry will be nicer if we go in together.”
Gentry was at a table taking an order when Abe and Maggie walked in at 11:15. When he finished, he scowled at Abe, then motioned with his head toward the kitchen.
When Abe put on his apron and went to check the orders, Gentry came up beside him. “I know you’re in love and all now, but we have a business to run.”
Abe turned to him and patted his chest. “It’s fifteen minutes, man.”
“What if I were also fifteen minutes late? Do you think I wanted to get out of bed this morning and leave my beautiful wife’s side?”
Abe sighed. “I’m sorry. You’re right. It won’t happen again.”
“So, I guess you’ve moved into the next phase?”
“Next phase?”
Gentry began flattening a ball of dough. “You smell like honeysuckle.”
Abe took his hat off and ran a hand through his hair. “Dammit.”
“It almost makes me want to forgive you.” He stretched the dough, then tossed it into the air.
“For the record, I didn’t spend the night.”
“You just went over this morning to use her shower?”
“Don’t we have pizzas to make?” He looked at the order slips.
Gentry put a hand on Abe’s shoulder. “I’m happy for you, man. You and Maggie are going to be great. But you need to be here on time.”
“Got it.”
Maggie came up to them. “Are we okay here?”
Gentry turned to her. “Yeah, but this isn’t all Abe’s fault.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
Gentry gave her a quick hug. “Welcome to the family.”
He headed for the walk-in, and Maggie turned to Abe. “Did I miss something?”
Abe laughed. “No, but it’s something to think about.”
“We just had our second date.”
He shrugged. “And we’ve already talked about sitting on the porch when we’re old and gray. You know, like Gentry’s age.”
She handed him two orders. “But we’re going to take our time getting there, right?”
He pointed at her. “That sounds like a plan to me. You said no more plans.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when Gentry came out of the walk-in. “Customers?”
“Oh, right.” She glanced at Abe, then went out to take care of the customers.
Gentry set down the container he was holding. “Pizzas, Abe.”
“Right. Pizzas. My life’s work.”
They worked nonstop and called Luke in at two to give them breaks and help with the dinner rush. Memorial Day weekends were always busy, and closing down on Monday to man the booth at the park was a welcome relief from the hectic two days.
The restaurant was full when Maggie took her break, and she went out behind the restaurant to eat her lunch. Abe took advantage of a slight pause in the action to go see her.
“Hey.”
Maggie turned on the bucket she was sitting on. “I’d like to talk to the management about putting a table out here for employee breaks.”
“I heard they’re a couple of hard asses, so good luck with that.”
“Are you going to get a break? You must be starving.”
He patted his stomach. “I’m beyond starving. I did gobble down a mistake order of breadsticks a while ago.”
“That should keep you going. Have some soup or something. A salad. A handful of pepperonis.”
“I’ll try for some soup.”
“You better get back.”
He bent down and kissed her. “Take your full thirty.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Quick beer after work?”
“It’s a date.”
“Two in one day. That must be a record.”
It finally slowed down by seven, and they were able to start the closing process. Abe told Gentry to go home right at eight, and he, Luke, and Maggie finished closing down by eight-thirty.
Abe walked Luke to the door. “We’re going to hang out for a few minutes. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I’ll be in at two again.”
Abe locked the door behind Luke, then went to Maggie and hugged her. “Hell of a day.”
“Good thing we got that extra hour of sleep, or we never would’ve made it.”
He got two beers from the cooler and the pizza he’d made before they shut the oven down, and they sat down at a booth.
He picked up a slice and took a bite. “Heaven.”
Maggie took a slice of pizza for herself. “I can’t believe we’re not all sick of pizza.”
“It’s Rocco’s. The best pizza in Idaho.”
“That must be it. Will Kai still be awake when you get there?”
“Probably not. I think I might stay at Mom and Dad’s tonight instead of dragging him home and bringing him right back in the morning.”
“Is it hard for you?”
“Leaving him with Mom every day?”
“Yes.”
“At first, I thought it’d be great for him to have a place to go while I’m at work. Not having him twenty-four hours a day. But now…”
“You miss him.”
“I do. Is that crazy?”
“It’s not crazy, Abe. You love him.”
“Man, I really do.” He looked around the restaurant. “I love this place. I’m proud of what Gentry and I built. But now, it’s what’s keeping me away from Kai.”
“You’ll find a compromise. Something that you can live with.”
Abe smiled. “Yeah.” He took her hand. “Things will fall into place.”
She looked at him for a moment. “Things, huh?”
“Yeah.” He picked up another slice of pizza. “Especially with our new no plan rule.”
“You’re impossible.”
“Hmm. I’m just a man who has finally realized what love is all about.”